Hello from Tavistock, Ontario, Canada

Hi everyone! I've been gardening since I was a kid. Now my own kids are grown and have moved out - how time flies!
I've done traditional rototilled gardens until about 5 or so years ago, then I convince hubby that no-till was the way to go, then we went to Back To Eden gardening, but it's not working that great for me for just a veggie garden, great for trees and fruit and I plant other plants there too.

So, I got hubby to build me 3 raised beds to replace my just veggies garden. They are currently 1/2 built in the garage awaiting hardware cloth to be nailed to the base.

I cannot find any bigger bags than 9l of vermiculite here - apparently it's no longer mined here, that's what I was told today when I got through to a garden center.
We are hugelkulturing the bottom half of our beds (with existing branches and the wood chips we have left over) and then combining our clay soil with peat and compost to go on top. Hopefully that works out well. 

I'm going to start bokashi composting too, probably worm composting as well.

So happy to have found this forum, looks like a wonderful way to garden.

Linda
Zone 5b

Welcome to the forum from Ohio!  Sounds like you have a great start.  Like you, over the years I went from conventional organic gardening, to no-till gardening, to raised bed gardening. Each move has improved the quality and quantity of vegetables. I do both compost tumbler composting and Bokashi composting (after the Bokashi has set for 2 weeks, it is dumped into one of the compost tumbler where it quickly composts).

I am sure that members in the Ontario area will soon jump in with help and suggestions on getting the materials for the Mel's Mix.

Again, Welcome!

Hi Linda, Welcome to the Forum from California!

I'm thinking don't use the clay soil. Use just the peat and compost with some amount of vermiculite mixed in on top of the bottom fill material if large bags of vermiculite are impossible to get. Try a pool construction company as they use vermiculite in concrete.

https://www.perlitecanada.com/en/perlite-vermiculite-montreal-canada.php

https://www.amazon.ca/Holiday-Vermiculite-Cubic-Feet-GM0026XX/dp/B00R6HF2Q2/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=vermiculite&qid=1586983066&sr=8-2

https://www.uline.com/BL_3801/Vermiculite?pricode=WL365&utm_source=Bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=vermiculite&utm_campaign=Cushioning%20%2F%20Foam&AdKeyword=vermiculite&AdMatchtype=p&&msclkid=0af118fedf5d1ba8b2664669b19d82b3&gclid=CMSZkfCi6-gCFcGvfgodKdAFkQ&gclsrc=ds

  Linda. Welcome from Northern California. Many of us have traveled a similar path to get here. We'd love to see pics as you progress.

Hi Linda!  Glad you found us!  A lot of us have come to this method be way of other various excursions!  Anyways, glad you are here.  I ordered my vermiculite from Amazon, but have also gotten it through my local nursery.  They ordered it special for me.  However there are options.

Thank you all for your greeting.

I don't think hubby will go for $100 for 4 cu ft. of vermiculite. But thank you for the links! Even the company in Montreal, the shipping will be prohibitive.

I am excited to try this and will post photos as we go. Pretty happy to have hubby making these nice raised beds.

For the Bokashi, I'm thinking of burying in the raised bed or other garden area after the 2 weeks of further fermenting. Hubby is thinking our current composting is going fine - he doesn't empty anything...lol... I'll see if I can get him to set up 2 5 gallon pails in a month or so when my Bokashi bran is ready!

Linda

lvanderb wrote:I don't think hubby will go for $100 for 4 cu ft. of vermiculite. But thank you for the links! Even the company in Montreal, the shipping will be prohibitive.

That is awfully expensive vermiculite. Here in Ohio a 4 cu ft bag of course vermiculite is less than $24.00.

Welcome Linda from Ottawa, ON.  I have not bought any this year but every year for the past five years I have been able to buy 4 cu.ft. bags of vermiculite for $30 in Ottawa. I don't think what they told you is true about it no longer being mined. Keep looking. You may have to go to London, Kitchener or Hamilton for it.

Thanks trolleydriver. It was a garden center that I called in Kitchener that said they didn't have any vermiculite as it was no longer mined. If you can point me to any particular store, I can call. Well, that does sound lazy doesn't it, lol. I can try a few more garden centres.

Linda

lvanderb wrote:Thanks trolleydriver. It was a garden center that I called in Kitchener that said they didn't have any vermiculite as it was no longer mined. If you can point me to any particular store, I can call. Well, that does sound lazy doesn't it, lol. I can try a few more garden centres.

Linda

Linda, I get mine from Ritchie Feed & Seed in Ottawa. They have several outlets in this area but have not seen them elsewhere. Good luck.

Hi Linda. Welcome from Atlanta, GA! Glad you've joined our little party!

Well, we now have all 3 raised beds in place! I'm pretty pumped .




Note: the shed is ours, the house is our neighbour .

Linda

Today, in the rain, the cold, miserable, dripping rain, I planted some very dead looking strawberry roots, put soil into some bins that I'm trying out a compost in place concept with and opened up my winter sowing containers for spinach, lettuce, parsley, broccoli etc so I can plant them very soon.

There will be photos when I find the sun .

Linda
ps no idea where I'm going to plant all 200 or so broccoli plants, lololol

Sounds like work!  Can’t wait to see some pics!

The beds are full now. Considering planting some cool weather plants, but frost is threatening next week.



Linda

Looking good, Linda!  Some of the cool weather crops, such as Kale, Spinach, and Leaf Lettuce, don't mind frost and will do well even with a light freeze.

Wow, Linda! Those boxes came out great!!!

What's in the bottles and such at the bottom right of the last pictures? Or are you using them as hot caps?

Thanks Molly,

I germinate my seeds with a method called winter sowing. Thus no need to buy nursery seedlings (well, maybe the marigolds, which are just being stubborn - or maybe old seed...) or germinate indoors and then harden off.

I used water jugs, juice jugs, vinegar jugs, plastic alcohol containers etc. I punch a few holes in the bottom, a couple up the side an inch, then cut in half leaving a hinge. I put in 4-6" of damp soil and plant my seeds - fairly shallowly, then spray with water, cover lightly and spray again with water. I insert a label, duct tape shut and use a paint marker to label the jug. I usually start this in February, and indeed can germinate seeds like this all through the summer and fall - deprives birds and bunnies of their treats as they do enjoy eating my seeds otherwise.

I started this last year - not a good year to start, we had a horrid spring, summer and fall, lol... I'm having much much better germination this year.

Linda

Nice set-up, Linda!  I am curious about your sowing method.  I have heard of it.  One year I made cloches out of 1L water/pop bottles with the bottoms cut out, and put my spinaches out early.  Used the cloches.  When I finally got to remove them, they literally acted like cookie cutters and neatly lifted each and every plant up and out of the bed!  

Thanks, it is fun! Whoops about the spinach - that is what is called NTWS - no transplanting winter sowing - also talked about in the group I mention below...I guess your soil was just so nice and loose? Maybe your cloche was in too deep?

Well the best resource for winter sowing is this facebook group Winter Sowing with Sheryl - she has a number of units to go through that are very helpful.

Linda

Nice going with this thread of yours. Linda,  Sorry I missed it. I like it when people have a thread of their own as it acts as a kind of diary that you can go back over the years to see what you did and when.

I regret that I did not do that but I kind of wandered through what ever took my fancy.

When I get to England this year I will certainly start afresh and have my own thread as I will literally be starting from scratch. and in a different climate.
No long winters like Canada. 

From Kelejan, Canadian Region Host 

Linda, good for you doing Winter Sowing. I did it for several years with excellent success. I didn't do it this year due to medical problems. Looking forward to seeing your success with SFG.

I will post pictures!

I now have 2 fruit trees in full flower - 2nd time for the peach tree - they are very yummy, and the apple tree, well, I kept trimming off the fruit spurs, we'll leave it at that...it's a multi grafted one, was 6 varieties, I remember the year we just got granny smith apples.

That's nice Linda.  What I like about fruit trees, even if you do not quite know how to prune etc., one can get fruit every year. In some cases far to much fruit.

About five years ago I was going to get rid of my old cherry and apple trees. Instead I decided to put some woodchips down and the next year both trees had an abundance of leaves. The following years the apple tree had thousands of little apples and the next year a good crop of lovely pest free apples that were large and tasted so much better and were a joy to prepare for canning and drying.  The cherry tree also produced a lot more fruit and today I was actually eating cherries canned in 20i6 that tasted wonderful.

A friend of mine had carefully nursed a peach tree and the first year it finally fruited there were six perfect peaches on the tree, ready for harvesting. The next day he went out and found the tree flattened and the peaches gone.  He was in bear country.

I buy my peaches from a local organic gardener and eat some and can the rest.